refracting theory: politics, cybernetics, philosophy

About

Welcome! You’ve found Fractal Ontology, a weblog representing the work of Joseph Weissman and Taylor Adkins (click to see all articles by author.) We started this blog as undergraduate philosophy students, and in one form or another Fractal Ontology has been around more than ten years. We remain excited about using this medium to explore new lines of inquiry.

Holy crap! Did you help edit the Praxis of Alain Badiou with Justin Clemens? Wow, I’m really honored to have you send me this website. When the most recent volume of Badiou scholarship (the Praxis) came out, I was really excited, and its work strongly complements the Hallward and Riera collections. I definitely will email you with questions soon, because I’ve been brainstorming about where to send the translations I’ve been working on. Again, thank you so much for the referral. I hope we talk again soon.

Attached below please find the description for an imprint series. Our affiliation with GnOme publishing serves as a temporary vessel as we work towards our own publishing house via HWORDE(s) first titles. Given the non-standard vision vis-à-vis the social environment of the publishing world (and it hypocritical censure of self publishing!), we cannot promise at the outset any number of titles. Rather, we can only assure you of our commitment to the principle of the imprint and its possibilities. While are present obscurity does not permit disclosure of professional qualification, we do have sufficient editorial, writing and publication experience for this task.

As far as I know John, no one is working on Lazarus at the moment. Ironically, the most extensive discussion of Lazarus in English appears in Alain Badiou’s Metapolitics, translated by Jason Barker. The two works that I have by him right now are Anthropologie du nom and his essay from Politique et philosophie dans l’ouevre de Louis Althusser called “Althusser, la politique et la histoire.”

Now this is a very interesting question that you have raised: Lazarus falls in the cracks between disciplines–he spans politics, anthropology, sociology, history, and, of course, philosophy. I could probably translate sections from the book, or even his essay (trust me, I’ve considered it), but I’m not so sure about publishers wanting it or considering it worth publishing (because it doesn’t have a ‘market’–absurd, but that’s the reality principle I guess).

For an essay by Badiou, Lazarus, and Natasha Michel, check out the essay called “What Is To Be Thought? What Is To Be Done?” at http://www.counterpunch.org/badiou0501.html. This article was translated by Norman Madarasz, who has translated the Briefings on Existence: A Short Treatise on Transitory Ontology and Manifesto for Philosophy by Alain Badiou: he also was Badiou’s student. He might possibly be working on Lazarus, though I’m not sure. As far as I can tell, David Fernbach translated Lenin Reloaded, so it’s possible that he would be the best one to turn to.

I am about to release a new way of using the web for knowledge
management that uses many of the post-modern theories, and seems
to work. Maybe think of it as an artificially intelligent blog.
It may actually be on the boundary of a form of reall intelligence
in fact.

Would love you guys to play with it, and let me know what you
think.

Please let me know your email address, or some other
way to contact you.

hey,
just found out about the site, and you guys put together a really impressive effort. Needless to say, this website is a goldmine in terms of resources and ideas, and do an excellent job in circulating “french theory” ideas and more.
ok, i had a lot of things to comment on, and since I didn’t know where to put the whole thing, I picked the “about” page.
– on bibliography, why is there not Deleuze’s Nietzsche and Philosophy under Nietzsche column + deleuze’s “nomad thought”, his short essay where he exposed at the end the concept of nomadity.
– on translation, well, if you seek help I’m here. here’s why, I’m French (which helps I agree) studying in Montreal, bi-lingual, and very much into all the authors you list. My field is more political philosophy but I share plenty of references with what has been listed. So, I’d be ready to help you out or edit/check some translations you made. I could even do some by myself, I’d be glad to translate anything you judge particularly important and that has been missed out. I’ve read NIetzsche aujourd’hui and this is not too hard to translate although I didn’t find it very interesting (except Deleuze’s essay, but I think this one has been translated)…
alright, i’d love to collaborate with you, if you think I can be of any help…
anyway, great job and all the best for your studies and projects…
anarkali

Taylor Adkins here. I have to distinguish myself first off because Joe and I both have radically divergent yet mutually stimulating projects. I think my love for translation has even rubbed off on him a bit (note his translation of a selection of Deleuze’s abecedaire), while his theoretical fecundity shames me for not producing as much (stop making me look bad Joe!!).

But, on a serious note, I would love to say thank you so much for your interest. In fact, I have translated about half of Guattari’s L’Inconscient Machinique, and I have been looking for readers to check it for me and ensure its quality. If this sounds like something that would interest you, I can send you copies of my work along with pdf files of the Guattari.

J W & TA your site is a superb iniative. Many will be grateful to you both for making your adventurous researches available to all. Your translations of early Serres are sharp remiinders of how untiimely the Hermes series was.
The work of artist Karel Nel is in dialogue with Serres and I would like to post some parts of my upcoming book on Nel on your site for this reason. My students (architecture) and I wish you every strength in taking this resource further.

I stumbled across this page and am very, very glad I did. I have been reading a lot of the entries here and feel like I am at home. Its as if to “leap with joy” on the inside. So thank you for that. I needed finding this page….

Concerning your two responses, I want to say thank you for your sheer positivity. As for the Nietzsche, Joe and I both have written many posts on him, seeing as our philosophy department chair is a Nietzschean (though, in truth, Nietzsche’s definitely one of my favorite philosophers…I would say Laruelle, but maybe Laruelle’s my favorite non-philosopher).

I may be wrong, but if I had to guess, Joe’s writing brought you the joy you describe…that seems much more of a characteristic of his thought than it does mine! And I don’t mean this in a sarcastic way, yet it could be taken as such… I would honestly say that much of my writing lacks the affect and speed of intensity that characterizes Joe’s…on the other hand, as Deleuze and Guattari remind us, the slowest intensity is not necessarily the weakest!! Slow and steady wins the race…

I’ve always tried to figure out why our styles are so different. It’s strange…being initially a literary critic, one would think I would exult in the affect of artistic creation….but, it seems more like I’m a scientist/savant of the text, always rereading, always redirecting references, always quoting page numbers—something Joe hates, I know personally. Page numbers, who can use those anyway! Primitive technology…

I think I bring the sobriety and callousness that has to keep Joe’s joy from breaking the earth’s gravitational field…his leaps of joy are a little bit more like somersaults over the moon…

Taylor,
Thank you for your response! I would like to add that “intensity” of words, association, and creativity are not the equivalent to the form of joy that I referenced. By joy I mean that little jumper inside gets off (so to speak) on anyhting that inspires thought and produces a yearning for furthering the initial attraction. I have never been one to pick up a “good book” and read it for sheer pleasure; for me I have to be able to analyze what I am reading, highlight those faculties that I find creates a pathway to deeper insight, and proceed to do a cross-reference amongst other forms of literature (be it thesaraus word jumping or the polarity of opinion found in opposing authors). I crave knowledge. Self-awareness and the ability to move out of self to see beyond the rudimentary foregoings of societal standards is the curiousity that entrances me. I have found that here. I like to be mentally challenged. Since I have strumbled upon this site, I almost can’t leave it! I am addicted to the “ah ha” moments I encounter while reading the entries and responses. When I first began reading entries here I was reminded of a quote that you might enjoy…”For without creative imagination, knowledge itself degenerates into a mere shell of truth…”-Franze Winkler MD author of MAN-The bridge between Two Worlds

Well, I hope that you know that Joe and I get at least as much joy and inspiration from some of our viewers’ comments, and your comments are no exception. We really hoped to make fractal less of an academic exercise and more of a means of collective expression, allowing voices to be expressed in many different dimensions, including the basic textual level of course. I’m sure Joe will respond to you today, if he can ever step outside and pause his video game creations! Video games are for nerds Joe, go read a book….(knowing him, he’ll do ’em both at the same time).

I’m a keen and interested Badiou reader, but I disagree with literally everything he writes. I am the son of two historians who did History for my undergrad degree and am ideologically opposed to nomoadologies. I believe it would be (genuinely) interesting for you guys to think about whether you could ever talk about anything with me. Here, for example, is something typically (and purposefully) weak, limited and wholly superficial I have written about British history and politics, with what I believe is an interesting if rather caricatured debate with my brother in the comments section:http://petespost-it.blogspot.com/

A cool discussion could happen here, honest!
Best wishes,
The Radical Other

Hey! I have been showing this site off to several of my friends and remain amazed at the depth of you guys theoretical endeavours. Weird Im sure, but I happened to find you on another site and saw you were both from Atlanta. I study at Kennesaw State working toward my doctorite in philosophy (beginning in Jan) and would love to correspond with you both in whatever fashion you can…. Im just constantly enthralled with the writings in here! Anyways, thank you for doing what you do. Feel free to contact me via email or however. I would love to share ideas!

Your blog contains an amazing amount of work and seemingly novel ideas. It seems in bridging these ‘connections’ you speak of (between philosophy, cybernetics etc.), you are giving practical application to the academic study of philosophy. The times we live in warrant such inquiry, analysis and thought. Technology is increasing exponentially, and its rate of increase is accelerating exponentially also. In this period, this sort of thinking is of extreme, if not paramount importance.

I am an undergrad philosophy major going into Law after receiving my degree, and would be glad to help, even work towards expanding your project. I’m sure the UC Santa Barbara Department of Philosophy would support this kind of study. I could present some of your ideas and your blog to one of our Philosophy Club meetings.

One of my career goals is to publish a paper on the intricate, complex, relationship that technology and society will have in our upcoming times.

Feel free to email me for further questions, or if you have any papers on the subject I just mentioned. I’m very interested in what’s been termed the “Technological Singularity.” Any material that critically, philosophically analyzes the soon-to-be ramifications of super-advanced technology and our trans-,post-human future, would be amazing to read.

like commentator beautifulanarchy, what first drew me here was the artistic imagery–however, only a handful of the images are attributed to the source or artist. i’m not concerned about copyright, i’m just interested in exploring further the relevant artists’ work…please try to include this information. thanks

most of the images have creator/title attributed in the filename if not in the post — just let me know what images you’re interested in and i am more than happy to point you towards more of the artists’ work.

Attached below please find the description for an imprint series. Our affiliation with GnOme publishing serves as a temporary vessel as we work towards our own publishing house via HWORDE(s) first titles. Given the non-standard vision vis-à-vis the social environment of the publishing world (and it hypocritical censure of self publishing!), we cannot promise at the outset any number of titles. Rather, we can only assure you of our commitment to the principle of the imprint and its possibilities. While are present obscurity does not permit disclosure of professional qualification, we do have sufficient editorial, writing and publication experience for this task.

I found your blog when I googled “spinoza + fractal”. I like very much your entry ” Kant’s Intellectually Intuitive God vs. Spinoza’s Fractal Onto-Theology?”

We have here a fascinating instance of ontic recursion, which I would like to explain at length. I first learned about fractals when I was teaching public school in a small community. The public library had Mandelbrot’s Fractal Geometry of Nature. This book, to riff on Kant’s phrase, shook me from my nihilist slumber. I found my interest in intellectual life reawakened. I wanted to learn about science and philosophy. I had already intended to return to university, and went back to do a degree in library and information studies. I started reading, looking for a philosophical expression for the ontological significance that I sensed in fractal geometry. It was a frustrating yet joyful journey that lasted well past grad school. Ultimately, I came upon the work of Constantin Brunner, an early twentieth century thinker who devoted much effort to popularizing the work of Spinoza. I have spent the last eight years examining Brunner’s work, which has entailed much work on Spinoza as well.

One area of Brunner’s work that I have concentrated on is his critique of the theory of evolution. He explains his rejection of evolution on Spinozist grounds, writing, “with my view of the attributes as relativity, of which each is locked solely and uniquely unto itself, there can only be constancy of the species, no passing over of one into the other.” I understand Brunner as saying that each species has its own attribute which is unknowable by any other species. This led me to conceptualize Spinoza’s attributes as fractals. Each species has, indeed is, its own attribute, its own fractal. And so now I have what I started out looking for: a philosophical grounding for the fractal geometry of nature.

By the way, in another recursive connection, Brunner posits a fundamental division of human thought into two basic types: spiritual/intellectual thought and popular/practical thought, with the former prone to superstitious distortion by the latter. Brunner further argues that the foremost representative of spiritual/intellectual thought is Spinoza, and the foremost representative of popular/practical thought, with its superstitious distortions, is Kant. See Brunner’s Spinoza contra Kant.

Amazing. Big WOW guys… I’m an undergraduate fine art student and the way you use images… I mean – you do them a privilege… And I’ve thought that it’s impossible for pure art to ‘serve’ other reasons than its own sake… and to remain pure art… I’m especially impressed by your serious attempts to bridge disciplines and challenge long-established ways of perceiving reality. I’m myself captivated by the Chaos Theory and the infinity of the fractal universe. Nice work. You can be a real inspiration…

This is an interesting site. I wish you would label more of the images you include. There is one next to a Michel Serres article — I would like to know who painted it. It’s a triptych beside “Translation: Michel Serres and the Mathematization of Empiricism.”

First off, great site guys. @Taylor – I’m interested in the current status of your translation of the “Machinic Unconscious”. I am also curious if you’d be interested, both yourself and Joseph, in contributing to a project on “Embodied Machines: Deleuze’s transcendental empiricism and embodiment.” More information on the project can be found at http://www.machinicpoint.com under “First Postings: Embodied machines”. Look forward to hearing from you and best of luck with your ongoing projects.

Guys, found this blog and it’s really great. Take a look at my project http://thisislike.com – maybe it will be of use when you think of connecting ideas across various fields. Just type in Deleuze or repetition and see what happens.

Fine work here, lads. I found this blog when I googled Heidegger and Fractal. I was reading Being and Time and I kept thinking:
1. about the recursion in Kirkegaard’s ‘relation that relates itself to itself’ and
2. asking myself about what scale is requisite for dasein – how much possibility? How does primitive dasein become the regular kind?
Obviously I’m out of my depth as but I sure was excited to find this blog.

I have researched fractal behavior for many years. Your site is by far the most interesting by trying to unite so many aspects of existence. I don’t think of it as post-modern because fractals have always been around…. we’re just now beginning to see them.

first, english is not my language, so…
once upon a time, il had a dialogue to entrance in a Feldenkrais formation, and after a time , I heard this question: what about “fractals”…I answered “mandelbrot” without understanding about the link beetween feldenkrais’work and Mandelbrot.
It was Five years ago.
now, I can say the reason.
If you don’t know this work, about integration fonctionnelle, i think, the best you can, is to read the book of Yochanan Rywerant, the title: the feldenkrais Method -teaching by handling.the autor was a teacher of physics in Israël, and he became the first assistant ao Feldenkrais.
What is the link between integration fonctionnelle and fractals?
I would like your thinking .
yveline

I am biologist, but the scope of my activity is much broader lately. 10 years ago we tried to prove that electrophotography of fingers (Kirlian, GDV etc.) has nothing to do with normal science, but experiments with modified technology of Gas-Discharge resulted in psychological shock: we accidentally discovered new physical effect (holographic diffraction). This mind-confusing phenomenon was studied together with physicists and it is already used in medicine. It is really hard to believe that holograms of our bodies might be recorded while using a simple (+ compromized) technology.

Maybe our 10-y long experience and ideas, based on experimental evidence would help those, who try to unveil some secrets of nature? Maybe it would induce new hypotheses and theories? Perhaps our work would help you? (fractals in nature actually represent “frozen holograms” – both are self-similar).
If you are interested in our work, please, visit http://www.bioholography.org

Very very interesting. Congrats! I am also interesting in the possibility of the development of a de-centered, non-hierarchical science. My main question is if the incentive is strong enough for the non professional to contribute… but I haven’t read enough post of yours yet…
I love the title also…

Thank you for your generosity of time and effort and thinking! Some of our most needed thinking is outside of the U.S. Ideas need engaging with mutually-other thinking systems to realize their potential!

To echo what has been going around, great site guys.
I’m trying to hunt down some Zourabichvili translations– maybe you have some floating around in that oddly extensive personal library of translations of yours, or know of where they might be found? Specifically I’m looking for “L’écriture littérale de L’anti-Œdipe” and “La question de la literalité.” I am new to, but deeply interested in the works of Deleuze and Zourabichvili, so your site has been very fun to work through.

Hey. I couldn’t find any contact info for either of you, so I hope a comment works okay. Anyway, I’m writing an Admissions essay on the Therapeutic Situation and relating it to your “Nomad” post and really working off a lot of the ideas that that entry generated in me, obviously with regards to therapy. Just wanted to let you know that I’m quoting some of the stuff, specifically “world-as-song/world-as-experiment” and “world-as-object” and beyond that it’d be great to get a nod or two to some other works that deal with those. I really appreciate the blog and I always look forward to new updates. Thanks a lot.